This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-371565 filed Dec. 27, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a television audiovisual, recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer, a method of supplying power to a PCMCIA card, and a PCMCIA card.
Recently, there have been devised some personal computers which are also provided with a function of receiving television broadcasting to enable to record and reproduce television programs. This function is implemented by a desk top type personal computer which is previously equipped with a board having functions of receiving, recording and reproducing television broadcast programs. For note type personal computers, however, this function has not been brought into practical use.
A note type personal computer generally has a PCMCIA slot as an expansion slot in which a PCMCIA card can be inserted to provide a variety of extended functions. The PCMCIA cards have been standardized in conformity to Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) and Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) as PCMCIA card standard. The standardization defines the capacity of power supplied from a personal computer to a PCMCIA card; a procedure for detecting a PCMCIA card when it is inserted into a personal computer; a power supply sequence; and the like. The standards, though defining a maximum capacity for power supplied to a PCMCIA card, does not contemplate any method of supplying power exceeding this maximum capacity.
Also, conventional PCMCIA cards include a PCMCIA card which is a version of PCMCIA Type II PCMCIA card additionally provided with an expansion unit. The conventional extended type PCMCIA card is integrally formed in a case, including a Type II card unit and the expansion unit. Since the extended type PCMCIA cards are designed in different sizes in accordance with their respective functions, their cases must be manufactured to fit for the respective sizes.
As mentioned above, a desk top personal computer equipped with the television broadcasting receiving, recording and reproducing functions is configured to achieve the object by previously mounting a board which provides predetermined functions, so that it is difficult to add the television broadcasting receiving, recording and reproducing function to a currently possessed personal computer at a later time. Particularly, for a small personal computer such as a note type personal computer which does not have a space for adding a board, it is impossible to add the television broadcasting receiving, recording and reproducing functions at a later time.
In the standardization for the PCMCIA cards for use in the note type personal computer, while the standards define the maximum capacity for a power supply to a PCMCIA card, they do not contemplate at all a method of supplying power exceeding this maximum capacity, as mentioned above. When the power supply capacity of a PCMCIA card exceeds the maximum capacity defined by the standards, an external power source must be used to supply the PCMCIA card with additional power. However, the PCMCIA card and an interface IC in a personal computer, which accepts the PCMCIA card, can be damaged unless the power supply from the personal computer is compatible with a power supply condition from the external power source.
Also, the extended type PCMCIA card, which is a version of the PCMCIA Type II PCMCIA card provided with an expansion unit, is integrally formed in a case, including the Type II card unit and the expansion unit. While the extended type PCMCIA cards are designed in different sizes in accordance with their respective functions, the cases integrally formed as before cannot be shared by all extended type PCMCIA cards, so that the entire cases must be newly manufactured, thereby resulting in a problem of an increased cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a television audiovisual, recording and reproducing apparatus using a note type personal computer, which is capable of readily accepting television broadcasting receiving, recording and reproducing functions at a later time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a PCMCIA card power supply method for use with a PCMCIA card which requires a power capacity exceeding a maximum capacity of a power supply from a personal computer to the PCMCIA card, which is capable of supplying the PCMCIA card with power external to the personal computer in a procedure which is compatible with a procedure of detecting an inserted PCMCIA card and a power supply sequence, performed when the PCMCIA card is inserted into the personal computer, as defined by the standards.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an extended type PCMCIA card, comprised of a PCMCIA Type II PCMCIA card and an expansion unit attached thereto, which is capable of sharing a case for a portion corresponding to the PCMCIA Type II, even with a different size, to reduce the cost.
A television audiovisual apparatus using a personal computer according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner in the personal computer, wherein audio/video signal input through the audio/video I/O interface are compressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications for storage in a large capacity storage device, or decompressed in accordance with the MPGE2 specifications for display.
The foregoing configuration allows a television receiving function to be added even to a note type personal computer, allowing the user to view a television program.
A television audiovisual apparatus using a personal computer according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner, and a PCMCIA card inserted in an expansion slot provided in the personal computer, wherein audio/video signals are compressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the audio/video I/O interface or in the PCMCIA card and transmitted to the personal computer for storage in a large capacity storage device of the personal computer, or decompressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the personal computer for display.
By connecting the audio/video I/O interface to the personal computer through the PCMCIA card to receive television broadcasting with the audio/video I/O interface and transmit the received television broadcasting to the personal computer through the PCMCIA card, a television receiving function can be added even to a note type personal computer at a later time, allowing the user to readily view a television program.
A television audiovisual apparatus using a personal computer according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner, and a PCMCIA card inserted into an expansion slot provided in the personal computer, wherein audio/video signals are transmitted from the audio/video I/O interface to the personal computer through the PCMCIA card, and compressed in accordance with the MPEG specifications in the personal computer for storage in a large capacity storage device.
When the television broadcasting is received by the audio/video I/O interface, transmitted to the personal computer through the PCMCIA card, and compressed in the personal computer for storage in the large capacity storage device as described above, the television receiving function can also be added to a note type personal computer so that the user can readily view a television program.
A television audiovisual apparatus using a personal computer according to a fourth aspect of the present invention comprises an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner coupled to the personal computer through a bus connector, wherein an audio/video signals are compressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the audio/video I/O interface and transmitted to the personal computer for storage in a large capacity storage device of the personal computer, or are decompressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the personal computer for display.
By connecting the audio/video I/O interface to the personal computer through the bus connector as described above, the audio/video I/O interface can be reliably connected to the personal computer, so that data can be transferred at a high speed.
A television audiovisual apparatus using a personal computer according to a fifth aspect of the present invention comprises an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner coupled to a personal computer through a radio communication unit, wherein audio/video signals are compressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the audio/video I/O interface, and transmitted to the personal computer for storage in a large capacity storage device of the personal computer, or are decompressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the personal computer for display.
By coupling the audio/video I/O interface to the personal computer through the radio communication unit as described above, the audio/video I/O interface can be readily coupled to the personal computer.
A television audiovisual, recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to a sixth aspect of the present invention comprises a personal computer including an expansion slot, an audio/video I/O interface including a television tuner, a PCMCIA card inserted into the expansion slot of the personal computer, wherein audio/video signals are compressed in accordance with the MPEG2 specifications in the audio/video I/O interface or in the PCMCIA card, and a transmission unit for transmitting the compressed audio/video signals to the personal computer, wherein the personal computer is operable in an audiovisual mode to multiplex a compressed video signal and a non-compressed audio signal sent from the PCMCIA card with the timing of the two signals being matched, demultiplex the two signals and output the demultiplexed signals to a display device and a speaker, respectively, and the personal computer is further operable in a recording mode to compress an audio signal sent from the PCMCIA card, multiplex the compressed audio signal on the compressed video signal with the timing of the two signals being matched, and record the multiplexed signal in a large capacity recording medium.
As described above, since the audio/video I/O interface is connected to the personal computer through the PCMCIA card, such that in the television audiovisual mode, a compressed video signal and a non-compressed audio signal sent from the PCMCIA card are multiplexed, and transmitted to the personal computer, the timing of the video signal and the audio signal can be matched. Also, since the audio signal is transmitted from the PCMCIA card to the personal computer without compression, the personal computer need not decompress the audio signal, so that a television program can be efficiently received in a simple configuration.
A recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to a seventh aspect of the present invention comprises a personal computer including an expansion slot, and a PCMCIA card inserted into the expansion slot of the personal computer for transmitting externally input video signal and audio signal to the personal computer, wherein the personal computer includes a recording/reproducing unit which records and reproduces a signal input thereto through the PCMCIA card in and from a large capacity storage medium, a PCMCIA card detector which detects a mounting state of the PCMCIA card in the expansion slot, a recording reserve setting unit which sets a recording reserve, and a reset unit which displays a warning or canceling a recording reserve in response to the PCMCIA card detector detecting that the PCMCIA card has come off when the recording reserve has been set.
According to the foregoing configuration, when a recording reserve is set, an insertion state of the PCMCIA card in the expansion slot is checked to display a warning, for example, xe2x80x9cCard has come off. Please insert properly.xe2x80x9d or the like, or the recording reserve is canceled if it is detected that the PCMCIA card has come off. Therefore, the user can confirm that the card is not properly inserted in the expansion slot through the warning or the canceled recording reserve, and can subsequently make a recording reserve after the card is properly inserted.
A recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to an eighth aspect of the present invention comprises a personal computer including an expansion slot, and a PCMCIA card inserted into the expansion slot of the personal computer for transmitting an external input video signal and audio signal to the personal computer, wherein the personal computer includes a recording/reproducing unit which records and reproduces a signal input thereto through the PCMCIA card in and from a large capacity storage medium, a PCMCIA card detector which detects a mounting state of the PCMCIA card in the expansion slot, a recording reserve setting unit which sets a recording reserve, and a reset unit which checks whether or not the PCMCIA card is normally mounted by the PCMCIA card detector before executing the reserved recording set by the recording reserve setting unit to display a warning and cancel the recording reserve when abnormal mounting of the PCMCIA card is detected.
According to the foregoing configuration, when a recording reserve is set, an insertion state of the PCMCIA card in the expansion slot is checked immediately before the recording reserve is performed to display a warning and cancel the recording reserve if it is detected that the PCMCIA card has come off. Therefore, if a failure occurs for some reason such as the PCMCIA card coming off or the like after a recording reserve was correctly made, a warning is displayed so that the user can confirm the occurrence of a failure such as the PCMCIA card coming off or the like, and subsequently remove the cause of the failure and perform manipulations for making a recording reserve, starting the recording, or the like.
A recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to a ninth aspect of the present invention comprises a property information storage which collects property information inherent to recording and storing the property information in a memory during the recording, a recording unit which records the property information as a property file linked to an video file in a large capacity storage device when the recording is terminated, and a recorded video file list display unit responsive to a request for displaying a list of recorded video files for classifying the video files based on the property information to produce a recording file list and display the recording file list on a display device.
According to the configuration described above, when the user instructs the recording and reproducing apparatus to display a list of recorded video files, a recorded video file list is generated from the property information recorded as linked to the video file and displayed on the screen. Therefore, the user can readily and rapidly find a target video file from the recorded video file list displayed on the screen and reproduce the target video file.
In the recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer in the seventh aspect of the present invention, the recorded video file list display unit selectively displays a day-based recorded video file list or a week-based recorded video file list as the recorded video file list. This configuration allows the user to designate the day-based recorded video file list or the week-based recorded video file list for display, and to more rapidly find a target video file.
The recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer in the ninth aspect of the present invention, further comprises a file name setting unit which sets a file name for a recorded video file based on the property information stored in the property information storage when recording is terminated, and a property priority setting unit which previously sets priority to the property information referenced by the file name setting unit. Since this configuration allows the user to previously set the priority to the property information referenced by the file name setting unit, the file names of video files can be made readily understandable for the user.
A recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to a tenth aspect of the present invention comprises a recording reserve setting unit which sets a recording reserve, a recording reserve folder which preserves reserve setting information set by the recording reserve setting unit, a recording unit which performs recording based on the reserve setting information set in the recording reserve setting unit, a recording complete detector which detects the completion of recording performed by the recording unit, and a transfer section which transfers the reserve setting information preserved in the recording reserve folder to a recording end folder when the recording complete detector detects the completion of recording.
According to the foregoing configuration, when recording is performed based on a recording reserve, reserve setting information preserved in the recording reserve folder is automatically transferred to the recording end folder after the completion of the recording, so that the user can confirm without fail the reserve setting information before the recording and the setting information after the recording without making any mistake.
A recording and reproducing apparatus using a personal computer according to an eleventh aspect of the present invention comprises an index thumb nail generator which analyzes an video file to extract picture switching as indexes, a thumb nail display which displays index thumb nails generated by the index thumb nail generator as a list on a screen, a reproducing range designator which arbitrarily selects the index thumb nails displayed as a list by the thumb nail display to select a reproduction start frame and an end frame, a list file generator which combines one or a plurality of video files to designate a reproducing range by the reproducing range designator to generate a list file, and a reproduction unit which reproduces the range designated in accordance with the list file generated by the list file generator.
According to the foregoing configuration, by arbitrarily selecting index thumb nails displayed in the form of list on the screen to designate a range, it is possible to readily generate a program list file for a plurality of video files and to reproduce desired scenes in succession.
A twelfth aspect of the present invention provides a PCMCIA card power supply apparatus which supplies a PCMCIA card inserted in an expansion slot of a personal computer with power from an external power source other than power supplied from the personal computer. The PCMCIA card power supply apparatus comprises a PCMCIA card insertion detector which detects insertion of a PCMCIA card when the PCMCIA card inserted in the expansion slot is in an external power supply enabled state, a first power supply unit which starts power supply from the personal computer to the PCMCIA card in response to a PCMCIA card insertion detecting signal detected by the PCMCIA card insertion detector, a power supply detector which detects on the PCMCIA card that the PCMCIA card is supplied with the power from the first power supply unit, and a second power supply unit which supplies the PCMCIA card with external power in response to a power supply detecting signal from the power supply detector.
According to the foregoing configuration, when the PCMCIA card is inserted into the expansion slot of the personal computer, the insertion of the PCMCIA card is detected provided that the external power source can be supplied to the PCMCIA card, causing the personal computer to supply the power to the PCMCIA card. As the PCMCIA card is supplied with the power from the personal computer, this state is detected to supply the PCMCIA card with the power from the external power source. As a result, the power supply from the personal computer to the PCMCIA card can be matched with the power supply from the external power source to the PCMCIA card, thereby making it possible to prevent useless power supply to the PCMCIA card and damages on the PCMCIA card.
In the PCMCIA card power supply apparatus according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the PCMCIA card insertion detector notifies the personal computer that the PCMCIA card is inserted when the external power source for the PCMCIA card inserted in the expansion slot is in a power supply enabled state, and notifies the personal computer that the PCMCIA card is not inserted when the external power source is in a power supply disabled state.
According to the foregoing configuration, when the PCMCIA card is inserted into the expansion slot, the PCMCIA card insertion detector notifies the personal computer that the PCMCIA card is inserted when the external power source for the PCMCIA card inserted in the expansion slot is in the power supply enabled state, and notifies the personal computer that the PCMCIA card is not inserted when the external power source is in the power supply disabled state, so that the PCMCIA card is not supplied with the power from the personal computer unless the external power source is in the power supply enabled state, even if the PCMCIA card is inserted in the slot card. Therefore, the personal computer can reliably control the power supply to the PCMCIA card in accordance with the supply enabled state of the external power source.
In the PCMCIA card power supply apparatus according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the second power supply unit stops supplying the PCMCIA card with the external power when the power supply detector detects that the power supply from the personal computer to the PCMCIA card is stopped.
With the foregoing configuration, when the personal computer stops supplying the power to the PCMCIA card, the PCMCIA card detects the stopped power supply to automatically stop the power supplied from the external power source. Therefore, even when the power from the personal computer is turned off, the power supply from the personal computer to the PCMCIA card can be matched with the power supply to the PCMCIA card from the external power source.
In the PCMCIA card power supply apparatus according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the PCMCIA card insertion detector notifies the personal computer that the PCMCIA card is drawn out from the expansion slot of the personal computer when the external power cannot be supplied to the PCMCIA card while the PCMCIA card remains inserted in the expansion slot of the personal computer, when the PCMCIA card is being supplied with the power from the external power source and the personal computer.
With the foregoing configuration, even if the external power source is turned off with the PCMCIA card left inserted in the expansion slot of the personal computer, the personal computer can detect this state to turn off the power supplied from the personal computer to the PCMCIA card, thereby resulting in the matching of the power supplies.
In the PCMCIA card power supply apparatus, the PCMCIA card opens a card insertion detecting signal for use in detecting insertion of a card in accordance with the PCMCIA card standard in an external power supply disabled state.
By opening the card insertion detecting signal in the external power supply disabled state as described above, the personal computer can detect the power supplied to the PCMCIA card from the external power source to reliably control the power supply.
A thirteenth aspect of the present invention provides an extended type PCMCIA card extended from a PCMCIA Type II card. This PCMCIA card comprises a front panel corresponding to the Type II card, and an extension case for a card expansion unit provided in separation, wherein the front panel is coupled with the extension case, and brackets made of a metal reinforce a coupling between the front panel and the extension case.
With the foregoing structure, even for a variety of PCMCIA cards having expansion units of different sizes, only the extension cases need be newly manufactured, since the front panel for the Type II card unit can be used in common. It is therefore possible to readily support a variety of PCMCIA cards having different sizes, and fabricate the PCMCIA card at a lower cost.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.